Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) was first developed in 1946 when two separate professors made the first successful nuclear magnetic resonance experiment to study chemical compounds. They were awarded the Nobel Prize of Physics in 1952. NMR is based on a physics phenomenon discovered in the 1930's, called nuclear magnetic resonance in which magnetic fields and radio waves cause atoms to give off tiny radio signals.
Paul Lauterbur, a professor of chemistry at the State University of New York, moved NMR from science to imaging by developing the second dimension of spatial orientation from the single dimension of NMR spectroscopy. The imaging industry labeled the technology Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) in the mid 1980's. Peter Mansfield of Nottingham, England further developed this concept by utilizing gradients in the mathematics field. He showed how the signals may be mathematically analyzed providing a way to conduct a consistent technique. In 1970, Raymond Damadian discovered the basis for using MRI as a tool for medical diagnosis. He found that different kinds of animal tissue emitted response signals that lasted longer than non-cancerous tissue. Two years later he filed for a patent for an “Apparatus and Method for Detecting Cancer in Tissue”. The patent was granted in 1974 and was the world's first patent issued in the field of MRI. In 1977 Dr. Damadian had constructed the first whole body MRI scanner. In 1983 the first “human” MRI scanner was installed in Europe and in 2002 approximately 22,000 MRI systems were in use worldwide performing over 60 million MRI examinations.
Since water constitutes about two thirds of the human body, hydrogen proton imaging with MRI is a logical use of the technology. The differences in water content among tissues and organs are easily differentiated by MRI. When the body is exposed to a strong magnetic field, the nuclei of the hydrogen atoms are directed into “order”. When submitted to pulses of radio waves, the energy content of the nuclei changes. After an RF pulse, a resonance wave is emitted as the nuclei return to their previous state. The small differences in the oscillations of the nuclei are detected. This results in a very detailed image of tissues and organs in the investigated area of the body.
As MRI imaging technology steadily improved and techniques such as fat suppression were developed, breast imaging became feasible. In the early 1990's physicians began experimenting with breast imaging to see if breast cancer could be detected. MRI has proven to be a very useful modality for imaging the “dense” breast that regular x-ray has difficulty penetrating thus missing cancers hidden by dense tissue.
In the mid 1990s, a dedicated breast coil was developed that allowed the breast to be suspended with a patient in the prone position. In 2007 a very large study in the Lancet 2007; 370:485-92 “MRI for diagnosis of pure ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS): a prospective observational study” determined that out of 7319 women who received MRI in addition to mammography over a 5 year period, breast MRI detected high grade DCIS 100% of the time compared to a 48% detection rate for mammography.
Due to the increase in breast MRI procedures and biopsies, a need for comfort and cleanliness has been noted by both the patients and MRI technologists. A primary concern has been to provide a protective covering of the MRI equipment, including the breast coil. In this regard, technologists have utilized sheets and pillowcases in an attempt to cover the equipment. However, the breast coil design makes it difficult to adequately protect the equipment and patient from fluids. For example, the use of sheets fails to protect the equipment padding which may be porous and retains body dirt, sweat, and bodily fluids. Cleaning is also an issue.